The present invention relates to certain spinning toys. A hand spinning toy which is very simple to make, requires only a simple disk and a string. The string is treaded through two small holes positioned about the center of the disk. The disk is set into continuous alternating rotating motion by pulling and then releasing the string while holding it in opposite directions which keeps it spinning.
In the eighteen century, large U. S. one-half pennies were commonly use by children for spinning on a string. A name was coined for spinning string toy, a "humdinger". The coins are immediately recognizable by their two small holes punched near their centers. Some coins may have three holes because they were initially miss-punched and off balanced or the first hole was punched too large. The word "humdinger" has since lost its meaning. Today, the word refers to anything that is extraordinary.
During the nineteen century, various rigid, hard, machinable materials 9 such as shells, wood, bones, metals, ceramics, ivory, glass, and certain plastics were used to make buttons. The holes on the large buttons made them ideal disks for spinning on a string.